How to Request Legal Assistance

The Center on Wrongful Convictions (CWC) will consider cases that meet the following criteria:

A claim of actual innocence: The person seeking assistance must be in no way responsible for the crimes of which he or she was convicted.

Post-conviction status: The trial must be completed and have resulted in a conviction and sentence.

If you believe that your claim fits these criteria, please send us a letter to the address below. The letter should briefly summarize the events that led to your current incarceration.

Center on Wrongful Convictions Northwestern Pritzker School of Law 375 East Chicago Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60611

All requests must be sent through the mail. The CWC will not consider requests for representation received via email or over the phone. Please note that all requests must come directly from the person seeking representation, although we will accept supplemental materials from third parties.

The review process for requests for representation can take several months or longer. During this process, the CWC will not provide phone or mail updates about the status of the review. We thank you for your patience. The CWC will send a letter after the review process has been completed.

The CWC does not handle the following types of cases: (1) sentence reduction requests; (2) civil lawsuits.